Adventure Meets Impact: Helping Homeowners and Homestay Businesses Thrive

Nestled in the breathtaking hills of Bethanchowk, Nepal, are homes that are more than just shelter. They are havens for travelers that offer authentic experiences of local culture and hospitality while providing vital sources of income for local families.

Yet, these homes, built with mud and stone, stand vulnerable to the next earthquake.

Bishnu Timalsina, a father and farmer, lives with his family in one of these homes. He is a proud member of the Hilltop Community Homestay, a collective of businesses he helped establish with other villagers several years ago.

Earlier this year, Bishnu and fellow community members Kedar Timalsina, Yuvaraj Phuyal, and Chudamani Phuya decided to retrofit their houses, making them safer for their loved ones while creating secure, welcoming places for travelers trekking in Nepal to stay.

Through our work in Nepal with homestay owners like Bishnu, Kedar, Yuvaraj, and Chudamani, Build Change is creating:

• A Brighter Economic Future: Homestay owners can attract more tourists by advertising their homes as safer in earthquakes, boosting local incomes.
• Community Leadership: Each retrofitted homestay business serves as a shining example for others, inspiring neighbors to invest in safer housing.
• Environmental Benefits: By retrofitting these homestays in Nepal rather than building new, we are saving embodied carbon — proof that resilience can also mean sustainability.

Project Impacts to Date:

Nearly ten years after the devastating Gorhka earthquake, however, thousands of homes in Nepal are still unprotected from earthquakes, which continue to destroy homes, lives, and livelihoods.

Last year, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake devastated Jarjakot, followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock a few days later.

Today, we are working with municipal leaders, local partners, and homeowners to retrofit more homes impacted by the Jarjakot earthquake. Our first two homes were completed and handed over to homeowners this September.

We’re also building the capacity of microfinance organizations (MFIs) to support families who are building and rebuilding their homes. This will stimulate demand for resilient housing among the communities these MFIs serve.

In collaboration with partners including Thornton Tomasetti, Shree Manakamana Credit and Cooperative, ARSOW Nepal , and the ward offices of Chauri Deurali, we continue to our work on resilient housing in Nepal. It’s all part of achieving our vision to create a world where every home is disaster-resilient.